The Mech Touch novel Chapter 229

Ves faced the daunting prospect of trying to fulfill 56 orders in perfect order. He not only had to arrange the logistics in a way that kept his production line running as much as possible, he also had to be personally involved in each step of the way.

All of his customers ordered the equivalent of gold label mechs. If Ves decided to be lazy and left the fabrication to his employees, then the mechs would never reach their full potential in the X-Factor.

Once his customers got their hands on the diminished products, they’d look at their mechs and wonder if Ves bamboozled them. As the actual product’s qualities couldn’t match the show models, they’d be justified in their outrage.

"I can’t cut any corners with these orders." Ves murmured as he drew up a rough plan on how to fulfill the orders as fast as possible. "The amount of stuff I have to take into account is growing by the day. I should probably beef up my administrative workforce soon."

At the very least, Ves required someone to take care of the administrative side of things. He also needed a financial wizard to manage his growing pile of cash. Relying too much on automated software to do his administration left him prone to overlooking too many things

After the Vintage Festival ended in a spectacular fashion, he immediately returned to the Barracuda with his followers and lifted off from Bentheim. He couldn’t wait to return to his workshop and get his hands dirty.

Right now, time was of the essence. He had to fulfill his orders fast if he wanted to release an original design before the end of the year. While no one knew when the Vesians planned to invade the Republic, the pundits on the news portals all predict it wouldn’t be too long. Both sides already started mobilizing some of their reserves.

In the meantime, the Mech Corps fought back against the rebels and the pirates preying on the shipping lines. The anti-piracy operations progressed decently as the Republic hunted down the smaller pirate outfits, though they failed to nail down their elusive leadership.

Closer to home, several famous divisions achieved great success at crippling the BLM’s off-planet assets. Their influence in the greater Bentheim region shrank drastically as a result, leaving the separatists with too little assets to pose a threat on other planets.

Once the Barracuda arrived at Cloudy Curtain, Ves returned to his workshop under an even tighter guard.

Word of his success at the festival had spread to his home. While his stature and influence had grown, so did the risks. Sanyal-Ablin already informed him the amount of probes and hacking attempts on his workshop had increased by over a thousand percent!

His long-awaited help waited for him at the entrance to his workshop. "It’s great to finally meet you! I’m Ves."

A stodgy man with greying hair clasped his hand in a strong grip. "Cyril Hockett, chief mech technician. Your grandfather offered me some new scenery, and I figured you could use the help."

"Your help is sorely needed. Right now, I’ve got a barebones operation going on. That was fine when I just started my business, but now I’ve got to fulfill a large quantity of orders."

Ves proceeded to explain the layout of his workshop. He introduced his incoming chief to his shiny new machines and explained their extensive capabilities. He also showed him around the storerooms and other areas to make sure where he could find what he needed.

When Cyril saw that Ves had no other workers in his workshop except for Carlos, he almost spat on the floor.

"This is a piss-poor workshop for a company that just received billions worth of credits in orders! When you’ve grown to the point where you aim to deliver more than fifty mechs in less than half a year, then you should stop thinking you can do everything by yourself. As far as I’m concerned, you should have started training up some mech technicians from the moment you incorporated your business."

"To be honest, the reason why I didn’t hire any technicians sooner is because it’s difficult to insure their loyalty." Ves sheepishly admitted. "If you’ve heard about the dangers I’ve been through, then you should know there’s a very real threat of infiltration."

When his grandfather promised to send out a chief, Ves had briefly read his profile. Unlike some random technician he could hire off the street, Cyril had been orphan who lost his parents in one of the past Bright-Vesia Wars. He’d been picked up by the Larkinsons who took care of his upbringing so that he formed a strong loyalty to the family.

Many wealthy families engaged in such practices to form a cadre of loyal retainers. The lives of these men and women could have been much worse without the nurturing they received from their backers.

Due to his simple history and impeccable service, Ves trust Cyril almost as much as his father and grandfather.

His new chief already made some bold plans. "It’s a little cramped here, but I like it. You’ve got some real quality equipment here. It’s a shame you don’t have enough hands to make full use of them. Let me take care of the hiring. I’ll be sure to watch out if they’re up to anything. With me around, they won’t even get the chance to harm you."

Cyril’s confidence provided some reassurance to Ves. He nodded at his chief and keyed him into the various systems that ran his workshop. In particular, Ves granted Cyril the authority to hire and train new personnel on his behalf. The chief didn’t need to check in with Ves for every little decision he made.

Naturally, his security systems still kept track of everyone’s movements. Ves occasionally skimmed the logs to make sure that Carlos hadn’t been slacking off. He simply had some extra reading to do with Cyril’s addition to his workforce.

"Delegate when you can." Cyril nodded approvingly. "The key to transitioning from a scrappy startup to an established company is to increase its scope but maintain control. You’ll shackle your company if you insist on micromanaging every aspect. Focus on your strengths as a mech designer and leave all of the details to your underlings."

Cyril made some broad recommendations to his operations. Besides urging him to staff his administrative department, he also recommended moving his workshop within half a year.

"Why so soon?" Ves asked with a puzzled tone. "I don’t expect I’ll need to expand my workshop any further before I develop my first original design."

The chief shook his head. "That’s a short-sighted perspective. With only a fixed set of orders to fulfill, right now is the best time to plan a relocation. If you haven’t looked outside, your workshop is sitting at the edge of a suburban neighborhood. I’m fairly certain that the local zoning laws is prohibiting a further expansion of your workshop."